


I... Love You?

by Iamacarrot



Series: In Which Our Hero Needs Saving [3]
Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Angst, Could happy even be a thing in my fics anymore?, Depression, How come no one has ever asked this?, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Like, The others have literally NEVER said I love you to Mikey, no happy ending, why though?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 12:26:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17043707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamacarrot/pseuds/Iamacarrot
Summary: How come Mikey's brothers never told him they loved him back? Was it because they found the thought amusing? Or embarrassing? Was it because they got annoyed of hearing Mikey say it over and over? Was it because...They didn't really love him back...?What?! NO! That's a stupid thought! Of COURSE his brothers loved him...!Right?





	I... Love You?

"I love you Leo!" Mikey screamed, popping up behind Leo, who was watching Raph work out.

" 'kay." Leo replied.

Mikey pouted, but it quickly disappeared as he looked to Raph. Maybe his oldest brother would say it back.

"I love you Raph!" Mikey chimed.

"Good to hear!" Raph replied.

Mikey frowned, rubbing his arm before walking away. Neither one of his older brothers seemed to notice Mikey's upset response. 

Well that, or neither of them really cared. It saddened Mikey to suddenly realize that his brothers had never actually told him that they loved him back. Sure, they would say that they appreciated him, or that he was adorable, or that he was a good help, but never had the words "I love you" been uttered by any of them.

Perhaps Donnie would be a better target. Mikey had been hanging out with Donnie enough to get on emotional terms with the normally emotionless Softshell. This should most definitely increase the chances of Donnie replying! So Mikey made his way to Donnie's lab, smiling as he found Donnie quietly working on what seemed to be a tiny robot.

"Hey Dee!" Mikey chimed.

Donnie grunted in acknowledgement.

"What are you working on?" Mikey asked.

No response.

"Hmm. Well, I just wanted to pop in and say hi!" Mikey continued, taking note of the slightly annoyed sigh that Donnie let out.

"Well, I guess I'll go, then. I love you." Mikey hummed.

Donnie gave no response, verbal, or physical. With that, Mikey trudged into his room, sitting on his bed and sniffling, before falling back and grabbing his little turtle plushy, that he'd affectionately named Plusho. She was an alternative to Mikey's brothers, and a good one as well, considering how she actually turned out to be sentient. This meant that Mikey could talk to Plusho when he was upset with his brothers.

"You love me, don't you Plusho?" Mikey asked.

Plusho trilled, a sound that had a tone of "Of course I love you!" Mikey smiled in response.

"How come my brothers never say that?" Mikey asked, not really asking Plusho.

The plushy "scoffed," putting a little flipper on Mikey's plastron in reassurance. Plusho never did have a strong liking towards Mikey's brothers. She viewed them as jerks who weren't really worth hanging out with. Of course, though, Mikey disagreed with this statement.

"Maybe they don't feel the same." Mikey sighed.

Plusho made a sound of worry. Her owner had started to show early signs of depression, and she obviously had no way to deal with that. It was up to Mikey's family to notice and tackle the problem, but Plusho doubted this would happen any time soon. The bunch was as ignorant and oblivious as a pack of caged baboons.

"Hey, Mikey? I'm hungry, and it's lunch time! Could you get out here and cook something?" Leo asked from the other side of Mikey's door.

"Yeah! Be there in a sec!" Mikey replied, waiting for Leo to walk out of hearing range before beginning to cry.

Plusho squeaked, wiggling out of Mikey's grasp and sliding up to his face, nudging against his cheek, doing her best to try and console Mikey.

She didn't want him to hit himself again.

Mikey pushed Plusho back gently, gathering himself and wiping his eyes, taking deep breaths before sitting up.

"I'm fine." Mikey assured.

Plusho cocked her head in unimpressed concern. Mikey chuckled, patting Plusho's head before hopping off of his bed. It was nice that Mikey had someone who cared about his sadness, or who even cared enough to find out about it. If he had it in him to think of the fact more often, Mikey would swear day by day that he would have done something awful to himself, had he not had Plusho around.

Well, something more awful than he already did.

"I'm. Fine." Mikey repeated, more to himself than to Plusho.

Plusho grumbled, watching Mikey leave before going limp and plopping down, no longer able to interact with anything around her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What do you guys want?" Mikey asked his brothers, whom had gathered in the kitchen.

"Homemade pizza!" Leo cheered.

Raph and Donnie nodded in agreement.

With his best fake smile, Mikey moved around to gather the ingredients, herding his brothers out so he had room to work. It was hard to cook decent food without enough love and passion to do so, but Mikey tried his best, adding on a few more taps of paprika and other spices to substitute for Mikey's lack of love. When the food was done, Mikey brought his "masterpiece" into the living room, watching as his brothers excitedly grabbed their slices, leaving two slices for Mikey, who normally would have grabbed the slices before them. If everyone were being honest, Mikey came in second place to being the most veracious eater of the family, tailing closely behind Raph, who had more of a stomach. Which is why everyone was surprised when they noticed Mikey's lack of excitement.

"What's wrong? Too afraid to mess up such a piece of art?" Leo teased.

"Hmm? Oh. No, I'm just... not hungry for pizza right now. Or anything for that matter." Mikey replied softly.

Raph and Leo choked on their food, both having been halfway through a slice, while Donnie simply stopped eating. Since when was Mikey  _not hungry for anything?_ Let alone not hungry for  _pizza?_

"Uhh... are you alright? You didn't bump your head on something, did you?" Leo asked.

"No. I'm just not hungry." Mikey replied.

"Uh-huh. Sure. Is the real Mikey in there? We'd like to converse with him." Donnie joked, an obvious hint of worry in his tone.

"Guys. I'm fine." Mikey huffed, becoming annoyed with his brothers' sudden persistence.

How come they'd never done this when Mikey expressed his emotions?

"Mike, you ain't fine. You  _love_ food! You  _LOVE_ pizza! Don, maybe he has a temperature or somethin'." Raph suggested.

Donnie nodded, scooting closer to Mikey and reaching out a hand. Mikey hissed in response, backing away and growling before storming off to his room, slamming his door and screaming. Raph, Donnie, and Leo looked to each other in surprise. Something was most obviously wrong with their baby brother, and it had most obviously been going on for a while. Very seldom did any of the brothers growl or hiss at each other in such a serious way. Most of the time, they did so as a joke, or as a slight warning. This display of Mikey's, however, was one of pent up anger and frustration. One that revealed more than too many problems that have been ignored by the family for too long.

"Should we...?" Leo asked quietly.

"We might as well. The longer we wait, the worse it will get." Donnie replied.

Raph nodded in agreement, leading the three elder brothers to stand and cautiously walk up to Mikey's door. From the room, could be heard the crashing and slamming of things against the walls and floor. Whatever was plaguing Mikey, was going to be a bitch to deal with.

"Mikey? Can we come in?" Raph asked, knocking on Mikey's door.

Silence.

Deafening silence.

Horrifying silence.

And then a sniffle. Followed by a sob. Followed by a wail. And finished with a loud thud.

Raph cursed, slamming Mikey's door open, and backing away as soon as he caught sight of Mikey, in a curled up heap on the floor. A bat was next to Mikey's head, and there was a steady stream of blood pouring from Mikey's forehead. Mikey himself was unconscious, breathing steadily, with a few hiccups and skips every now and then.

"Leo? You got a quip for this?" Donnie asked.

"Why. Would. You. Ask that?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mikey whimpered as he came to, sitting up to find himself in Donnie's room, surrounded by a majority of Raph's teddy bears, and cuddled between Donnie and Leo, who were asleep.

"Ugh... what did I do now?" Mikey muttered.

Donnie's eyes flashed open immediately, and he sat up. As Donnie's eyes made contact with Mikey's, the genius lunged onto Mikey, nearly knocking Leo off the bed, who grunted.

"HEY! Watch what you're- wait. MIKEY!" Leo screamed, joining in on the hug.

"Is it safe to assume that I did this?" Mikey asked.

Donnie and Leo looked to each other. Why was Mikey so quick to assume that it was his fault?

I mean, it  _was,_ but, why was that Mikey's first guess?

"I've done this before." Mikey whispered.

Donnie and Leo looked Mikey straight in the face. There was no way that they'd just heard that.

Plusho then squeaked, scaring everyone in the room. No one had even noticed her crawling onto the bed. A small DVD was in Plusho's mouth, and she placed it on Mikey's lap gently. The DVD was labeled "Outbursts," and it had a small sticky note on it. The sticky note read:  _Make sure to show Donnie when you've had enough_.

"But, I'm not ready." Mikey whimpered.

Plusho huffed. With a groan, Mikey looked down, handing the DVD to Donnie.

"Just play the damn thing." Mikey huffed.

Donnie raised a brow, standing and walking towards his personal Tv, placing the DVD in, and backing away so that Leo could watch as well. The first scene in the tape showed Mikey angrily smashing a painting with the same bat he'd used earlier, cursing and sobbing before throwing the bat down. The Mikey in the video then roared, slamming his head against a nearby wall and falling down, gasping and coughing before passing out.

The scenario then switched to another. In this scene, Mikey was calmly sitting on his bed, reading a book. A few seconds then passed, and Mikey started to cry. Mikey then threw the book to the floor, jumping off of his bed and opening a nearby drawer, pulling out a bottle of paint and shuddering before chugging the liquid down, gagging and spurting the paint back up, screaming in pain before passing out once more.

The scenario changed once more. In this horrid scene, Mikey was laughing maniacally, holding a pair of scissors. Mikey threw the scissors at a wall, cackling before picking up his bat and slamming it against his left knee, screeching and falling onto the floor.

"KILL ME NOW!" Mikey pleaded, reaching upwards, as if expecting someone to be hovering over him.

A few seconds of sobbing passed, and Mikey sat up, gagging before aggressively throwing up. So much came out of the Box Turtle, that one could swear that Mikey had completely emptied his stomach, food, acid and all.

Donnie and Leo could only watch one more scene before Donnie knocked the Tv to the ground, panting and weeping.

"When... how did...  ** _WHY???_** _"_   Leo asked, looking to Mikey.

Mikey said nothing, no emotions on his face. Seeing these outbursts of his made Mikey want to run away from his family and never return. They made him wish he were lying in a ditch. They made him wish he'd never been called out.

.

.

.

.

They made him wish his brothers had said they'd loved him.

**Author's Note:**

> Uhh...
> 
> I'm sorry?
> 
> Maybe. Not really. :p


End file.
